


On the Subject of Trolls and Puppies

by Wizzluv



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff, M/M, Puppies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-06
Updated: 2019-08-06
Packaged: 2020-08-10 07:53:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20131939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wizzluv/pseuds/Wizzluv
Summary: Highschool AU-Keith works at the Troll Museum (begrudgingly, he needs the money for college) and Lance wanders in with a puppy who decides the Troll Museum is the perfect place to take a leak. Keith POV.





	On the Subject of Trolls and Puppies

Listen, I didn’t want to end up here either. This is not how I wanted my summer to go, but I need the money. Going to college out of state is expensive as fuck, and I’m the only breadwinner in my family. ‘Family’ is a bit of an exaggeration considering my parents fucked off a long time ago. 

So now that it’s established, you may want to know how exactly I ended up working as a cashier at the troll museum (It’s called a museum, but really it’s just a glorified toy store). No, not the terrifying billy goats gruff troll. No, the universe would never grant me that mercy. These trolls are the plushy and cute versions of the trolls in DreamWorks Animation’s movie “Trolls.” In 2020 they’re releasing another movie and I’ve never hated Capitalist America more. 

Every day I am surrounded by thousands of tiny monsters. I hate their spiky hair. I hate how many colors they come in. I hate everything about trolls, so obviously, I now hate Justin Timberlake. I don’t care how attractive people think he is. His voice circulates through the troll store at least once every 15 minutes, and during an eight hour shift, that’s too much Timberlake for anyone to deal with. I’m an equal opportunist so yes, I hate Anna Kendrick too. 

The bells on top of the front doors jingle, snapping me out of my train of thought. A tan guy who looks around my age walks in with a little blond puppy on a leash. He looks slim but not in a scrawny way, and his hair hangs in his face like he’s been putting off a haircut for a few months. Technically I’m not supposed to let dogs in the store, but there’s no one else in the store, so I’ll let it slide. The fact that this guy and his dog makes my heart flutter from sheer adorableness is completely irrelevant. 

Cute guy wanders toward the back of the store with the little puppy excitedly trotting behind him. I can’t see them past the tower of grey trolls, so I go back to flipping through a Stephen King novel I keep with me by the counter. 

I hear a, “No! Rocky!” from the back of the store. Cute guy comes up to the counter I’m at looking disheveled and fiddling with the dog’s leash. For a moment he just stands in front of me, so I raise an eyebrow as if to say, ‘what do you want?’ He cleats is throat and says, “H. So. My dog Rocky, actually he’s my sister’s dog but that doesn’t matter. He peed in the back of the store I’m so sorry I can help clean it up.” 

Great. I want to be mad, but really I just feel minorly inconvenienced. I grab some paper towels and carpet cleaning spray from behind the counter and say, “alright, where’s the puddle of piss.” 

“It’s in the back.” He takes me to the back of the store and motions to the wet spot on the floor. “Here it is, sorry again.”

“Don’t worry about it. This is the most interesting thing that’s happened to me all week.” I flash him a smile and kneel on the floor. I’m prepared to do the cleaning on my own, but this guy looks like he wants to help so bad soI say, “I’ll squirt and you use the paper towels?” 

He smiles and joins me on the floor and says, “sounds like a plan.” Rocky nudges my elbow as I squirt the floor. I pat on my lap, and Rocky snuggles up on my legs. I hear a little chuckle, so I look up and make eye contact with the stranger whose dog peed in the Troll Museum. His eyes are an piercing blue, like the color of the waves right before they crash in the sand.

I say, “No offence, but you don’t look like someone who would spend their free time at the Troll Museum.” 

“You don’t really look like the kind of guy who would work at the Troll Museum,” he says with an amused smirk on his face. “I’m Lance, by the way.” He gives me a little wave since he’s been toweling up pee with his hands. 

“I’m Keith. It wasn’t exactly my first choice.”

“Why are you working here then?”

This guy is pretty talkative considering we’re currently cleaning up dog piss. “Summer job, just graduated high school and I need to save up.”

“For college?”

“Yeah.”

“I just graduated too. I went to Washington High. Where are you going to school next year?”

I don’t care if he’s cute, I’m not giving out my personal information to a stranger. I say, “I’m going to school in Wyoming.”

“Holy shit, me too! What are the odds. Are you going to U of Wyoming?”

“No.” I never would have guessed going to Wyoming would be something we have in common, but that nugget of knowledge makes my heart flutter. “But we’ll be going to school in the same state.” 

At this point the carpet is cleaned up. I gently push Rocky off my lab and brush off some dog hair he left behind. I stand up and squirt some hand sanitizer on my hands and Lance’s hands. (Yes I carry around hand sanitizer, you never know when you might need some.) 

I say, “So, why are you here again? In the Troll Museum.” I toss the dirty paper towels in the trash and put the spray bottle on the counter.

“My niece is really into the Trolls movie and her birthday is coming up. 

“Is your niece more of a bubbly or emo kind of kid”

“I guess more emo? She doesn’t like to admit how much she likes the songs in Trolls.”

“You should get her the gray, angsty, Timberlake Troll.” 

Lance grabs a Timberlake Troll and returns to the counter to pay. I ring him up, and after he pays he says, “Sorry Rocky peed on the floor again.”

I smile and say, “Seeing as I mostly get bratty children and overtired parents here, a face like yours is always welcome in here.”

“You saying that you like my face?”

Blood rushes up my neck and fills my cheeks. I don’t want to blow my chances with this guy, and I’m pretty sure what we’ve been doing for the last five minutes classifies as flirting. I say, “I guess you’ve caught me.”

Lance flushes red. Now we’ve become a matching pair of dorky teenagers, and something about that makes even more blood rush to my face. I can’t stop a goofy smile appearing on my face. He writes down his number on the receipt and pushes it toward me. “Text me?” he says quietly without making eye contact and quickly gathers his purchase like he was prepared to flee at any moment.

I take the receipt and put it in my back pocket. “I definitely will,” I say and wave goodbye. Alex doesn’t say anything back, but his nervous demeanor has turned into an elated one. 

“Come Rocky,” he says and exits the store while smiling into the ugly troll he bought. As soon as the sliding doors close behind him, I pull the receipt out of my pocket and enter the number into my phone. My goofy grin still hasn’t left my face. Maybe taking this job wasn’t the worst decision ever made. If things go well, it could even be the best.

**Author's Note:**

> Lmk if you liked this or want more. Kudos and comments are appreciated as always <3


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